Full Protection under the Law



[pic]Full Protection under the Law

Wills, Guardianship, Life Insurance, Re-adoption, Citizenship

By

Tia Marsh

Additional materials by CJ Lyford, Sheena Macrae, Susan Olding and Vivienne Webb

Crash couple leave 2 kids

“Avid motorcyclists who died Saturday when they collided with a pickup had given their 4-year-old daughter, Hailey, her first real birthday party just last week….”

From the Raleigh News and Observer

“When traveling from Canada back into the U.S. the Border Guard stated that our children’s passports were not sufficient proof that they were citizens or that they were our children, and wanted to know if we had copies of our domestic adoption decrees and Certificates of Citizenship.”

Dave Ptasnik, Director Americans Adopting Orphans

When we bring our children adopted internationally into their new homes, we feel we are finally done paper chasing and writing checks to the government, and we want “just” to live our lives. But we owe it to our children to dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s to give them as much legal protection as possible.

This guide presents information about

• Wills

• Guardianship

• Life insurance

• Re-adoption

• Citizenship certificates

• G-884 and Freedom of Information Act

• Legal protection issues in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom

Parents with children under 18 years old need to make several estate planning decisions: how to provide income for the children in the event of the parent(s) death, how to manage those assets, and who to designate to care for the child(ren).

Wills, guardianship, and life insurance apply to all families with children. Re-adoption, citizenship certificates, G-884 and the Freedom of Information Act specifically apply to families who have adopted internationally.

Disclaimer: This guide does not provide legal advice. It is not a substitute for the services of an attorney. Its purpose is to inform parents of issues they should consider to ensure their children are fully protected under the law.

Wills

Although it is not a required part of the adoption process, creating a will prior to completing your adoption is important. Upon death, your heirs will have many issues to consider: funeral, bills, personal property, insurance, income tax owed. Dying without a will, in legal terms intestate, means your property will be divided according the rules of intestate succession in your state.[1] Consequently, your property may or may not go to the person(s) you wish. In many states, the property is divided between a spouse and the children in equal shares.

Trusts

Establishing a trust is another consideration when creating your will. If you die before your children are 18 years old, the court will appoint (or approve) a guardian for the care of the child and the management of their funds until age 18. If you execute a simple will, your child at 18 would receive full control of the assets of your estate. On the other hand, if you establish a trust, you can provide for distribution at a later date or in stages when the child might be more mature to handle the financial responsibility.[2] With an establishment of a trust, you name a trustee to manage the funds until the time the trust states that the child has full control of the funds. A trustee can be a financial institution or an individual person or a combination of both.

Advance Medical Directives

Advance Medical Directives include Living Wills, Power of Attorney, and Health Care Proxy (also known as Health Care Power of Attorney). These documents allow you to dictate your treatment wishes should you become incapacitated as well as name individuals to act on your behalf during your incapacitation.

Resources on Wills

Estate Planning

Crash Course on Wills and Trusts

Advance Medical Directives

Guardianship

Establishing a guardian for your minor children in event of your death is important. With children who have already lost so much in their early life, making sure they are well taken care of in the event of another catastrophic loss, is crucial. With your will you can name a guardian for your minor children. Typically, the court will appoint the person you name.[3]

Here are some questions to consider when choosing a guardian:

• Will you choose a family member or a trusted friend?

• Is this person familiar with adoption issues?

• Where do they live? Close to you or would your child have to move out of state?

• Do your parenting styles match?

• If you have more than one child, will your guardian be able to take in all of your children?

• Will your child(ren) have an ongoing relationship with the designated guardian in the here-and-now?

• Have you talked with your family about your choice and wishes?

On the advice of the lawyer who drew up our wills, my husband and I sent our family members a letter stating who we had established as guardians, trustee, and executor of our wills. We stated in the letter that we trusted our family to honor our wishes in the event of an untimely death. Additionally, we sent copies of our will to the named guardians, the trustee, and the executors of the wills.

Guardianship is an issue you will want to revisit as time goes on. People you choose when your child is young may not be appropriate as your child ages.

Resources on Guardianships

Choosing a Guardian

Guardianship

Life Insurance

The key questions with life insurance are do you have it and is it enough? Your life insurance may need to provide for your minor child’s living expenses if you die before he/she reaches the age of majority. You should not rely solely on the named guardians to provide financially for your child. Additionally, you may need your life insurance to cover the cost of your child’s college education.

Resources on Life Insurance

Life Insurance Trust

Life Insurance: How Much and What Kind?

Understanding Life Insurance

Using Life Insurance to Provide for Your Kids

Re-adoption

By

C.J. Lyford, Esquire

Note: This section has been provided by C.J. Lyford.* C.J. is an attorney and the mother of a ten-year-old child from China, adopted in 1994, with a private practice in the areas of immigration/citizenship law and international adoption. You may contact her about re-adoption, immigration, or citizenship issues, or other legal issues involved in the foreign adoption process. She provides legal services and consultation throughout the U.S. and abroad in these areas for adoptive parents and agencies to address USCIS, consulate, and related immigration problems. She also handles foreign adoption finalizations and re-adoptions, as well as domestic adoptions, particularly involving foreign-born children, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Contact information: 215-247-3888 or lyfordesq@

*Member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association

Disclaimer: Please note that my comments are general in nature and are not intended to be comprehensive. They are not legal advice nor should they be relied upon as legal advice. I have attempted to provide the most up to date information in my comments; however, be aware that information on this topic is subject to frequent change.

What is “re-adoption”?

The term “re-adoption” generally refers to a process by which a U.S. state court in the state of the parents’ or sole parent’s, as applicable, residence reviews the details of the adoption abroad along with additional information as it deems necessary, and issues a new adoption decree, independent from the foreign decree, stating that the child has been adopted in conformity with the adoption law of the applicable state. The amount of documentation and procedures involved in a re-adoption vary by state. Within each state, the rules and procedures may vary by county or by the local state equivalent.

Why is it important?

What is the purpose of re-adoption? The ultimate purpose is to ensure that your child by adoption is entitled to all of the rights that he or she should have as your child under U.S. and U.S. state law.

Is re-adoption the same as adoption finalization?

No. “Re-adoption” is not the same as what is generally referred to as an adoption “finalization.”

“Finalization” is necessary when the child is coming to the U.S. for purposes of adoption and there has been no adoption proceeding abroad, the adoption was not completed abroad, or the adoption is not considered final by the foreign country. This is often seen in adoptions of children from Korea or India in which only a guardianship or custodial relationship, between the child and the agency or the child and the parents, is established. In this situation, the child travels on an IR4 visa (“Immediate Relative -- Orphan to be Adopted In the United States by U.S. Citizen”) as opposed to an IR3 visa,[4] and the adoption “finalization” must take place in the U.S. according to the law of the state of the parents’ or parent’s residence.

When is a “re-adoption” required?

Whether or not a re-adoption is required can be a matter of U.S. state law or U.S. immigration law. Re-adoption may be required in some states where the state does not give the same recognition and effect to a final decree of adoption issued by a foreign country as to a decree of adoption issued in that state.[5]

Even if the state recognizes the foreign adoption and the adoption is final abroad under the law of the applicable foreign country, your child may still have to satisfy the re-adoption requirement of the Office of Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) [6] for your child to be acquire U.S. citizenship.[7] This is the case if your child was issued an IR4 visa because you and your husband or you as a sole parent, as applicable, did not see your child before or during the adoption abroad. An IR4 visa is issued in this situation because the USCIS has interpreted the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) as requiring that both parents, or the sole parent, as applicable, see the child before or during the adoption abroad in order for the adoption to be “final” under the INA.[8]

However, according to the USCIS interim regulations, the re-adoption requirement in this situation may be waived by the USCIS if sufficient proof of the state’s recognition of the foreign adoption is provided to the USCIS.[9] Unfortunately, the USCIS has been ambiguous about what type of “proof” or “evidence” of recognition will be sufficient for the waiver.

Whether, based on the regulations, the USCIS will still require a re-adoption in a state, which generally recognizes foreign adoptions, is not certain at this point.

Until more information is available about what kind of proof of recognition that the USCIS requires for a waiver and how the USCIS implements the regulations in practice, most professionals still recommend a re-adoption in this IR4 situation rather than risk any uncertainty regarding a child’s citizenship; and I agree.

If you live in a state that specifically provides for recognition of a foreign decree by a written law or your state court will issue a court order recognizing your child’s adoption, and you decide not to readopt, you should submit a copy of the law or the order to the USCIS along with the new revised N-600 form requesting a Certificate of Citizenship[10] and request a waiver. However, until you actually receive the Certificate of Citizenship, confirming that the USCIS has accepted the proof of state recognition that you have submitted and waived the re-adoption requirement, do not assume that your child is a citizen. Only after receipt of the waiver will you be certain that your child has acquired U.S. citizenship.

Are there advantages to re-adoption even if it is not required?

Yes. Many families choose to readopt their child even if not required and it is generally recommended by most adoption lawyers and other professionals.  While some of the benefits and process are state specific, some of the general reasons to readopt include the following:

• Adoption is a matter of state law and each state has its own laws. (See footnote 5.) A state court adoption decree issued as a result of a re-adoption is fully independent of the foreign decree. As a result, if you have an adoption decree issued by a U.S. state court, all other states in the U.S. are required under the U.S. Constitution to give full faith and credit to the decree and to all of your child's rights under the decree. Therefore, obtaining a U.S. state adoption decree assures you that every state in the U.S. will recognize the decree and makes it unnecessary to rely solely on the validity of a decree issued under a foreign law.

• Federal laws, such as Social Security, can be based on a state’s underlying law regarding adoption, inheritance, etc. In certain circumstances a U.S. state issued adoption decree, as opposed to a foreign adoption decree, is required for an adopted child to be entitled to social security benefits through his or her parents or parent.10a

• There are practical concerns.  An adoption decree from a U.S. state court will be in English. The adoption documents that are issued from your child’s country of birth are generally in a language other than English and will always need to be accompanied by separate English translations.  Should you need to prove the adoption it will be easier for you or your child to be able to refer to one document that is written in English and is readily recognizable as a decree of adoption.   In addition, you will have a limited number of originals of the documents from your child’s country of origin. Should you lose these it will be difficult if not impossible to obtain additional “originals” or certified copies.   If you have a U.S. state adoption decree, you can easily obtain additional copies if necessary.  For example, when you apply for a U.S. passport for your child, you will be required to send them an original copy of the foreign adoption documents for processing of the passport.  If you have a U.S. state adoption decree, you can use this in its place, and give this to the Passport Office rather than risk losing the original foreign decree.

• Usually a legal name change is part of the adoption decree so that all of your child's future documents will reflect his or her “American” name. As it is a court-ordered name change, the USCIS should issue the Certificate of Citizenship in the child’s new name. Otherwise, if the child’s U.S. visa and other immigration documents are in the former name some USCIS and Social Security offices will not issue documents in the child’s “American” name.[11]

• Some states require that you readopt before it will issue a birth certificate for your child.

• The re-adoption hearing is usually a friendly proceeding before a Judge, either in a courtroom or a small room. Usually family members and friends are allowed to come to the hearing. The hearing can serve as an opportunity for other members of your family or friends to be involved in the adoption of your child, who could not attend the initial adoption abroad.

• Finally, an adoption decree issued from a U.S. state court will provide your family with additional peace of mind and protection should the foreign country involved, or others, ever challenge the validity of the adoption of your child or adoptions from the country generally.  You may at some point want to bring your child to visit his or her country of birth.  A U.S. state issued adoption decree will prove and confirm his or her status as your child under U.S. laws.

What does a re-adoption involve?

The specific procedures and requirements for re-adoption vary with the state in which the adoption proceeding is brought. Each state, and the local courts within the state, has their own set of rules and procedures that govern proceedings brought in its jurisdiction. Some have developed special procedures for re-adoptions involving foreign adoptions that make the process fairly simple and some states have not. Some states treat the re-adoption proceedings in the same manner as if you were adopting for the first time. This may require the preparation of additional documents, a repeat home study, etc., and corresponding additional time and expense.

Do you need an attorney to readopt your child?

The answer to this depends on the state and local laws of the state where you live. Some require an attorney. Some do not require it but make it very onerous for the proceeding to be completed without an attorney. If you use an attorney, make sure that you use one with experience in the international adoption area as applied to your state’s laws and U.S. immigration laws.

What else should you do?

Whether or not you readopt your child, please make sure that your child is a U.S. citizen and can prove it, by getting documentation of citizenship through a Certificate of Citizenship and/or a U.S. Passport.

Remember, as your child was not born in the U.S., a U.S. state issued birth certificate alone is not proof of your child’s U.S. citizenship.[12]

Citizenship Certificate

In January 2004, adoptive families got long awaited relief from the Department of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Effective January 1, 2004, children who were adopted internationally and entered the U.S. on IR-3 Visa receive Certificates of Citizenship automatically in the mail within 45 days of entry.

IR-3 Visas are issued to children whose adoptions are final in their country of origin. Children who arrive on IR-4 Visas must still apply for Certificate of Citizenship.

This new program update from USCIS finished what was started with the Citizenship Act of 2000. That law took effect Feb. 2001 and gave automatic citizenship to orphans adopted internationally.

According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services web site, the child becomes a citizen under the following circumstances:

“Under CCA, your child will automatically acquire U.S. citizenship on the date that all of the following requirements are satisfied:

• At least one adoptive parent is a U.S. citizen,

• The child is under 18 years of age,

• If the child is adopted, a full and final adoption of the child, and

• The child is admitted to the United States as an immigrant “

For adoptees who come to the U.S. on an IR-3 Visa, the citizenship is automatic as soon as the child arrives in the U.S. For children who arrive in the U.S. on an IR-4 Visa, it happens after the adoption is finalized in the U.S.

But until Jan. 2004, parents still needed to apply to receive their child’s Certificate of Citizenship. The January 2004 update did not address the children who arrived before January 2004. Many parents of these children have applied for and received the Certificate of Citizenship, but many parents have chosen to use a passport for proof or feel they don’t need proof because after all there is a law that states the children are citizens.

.

However, proof of citizenship in the form of a Certificate of Citizenship has become even more important in the post-9/11 world. There has been anecdotal evidence that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services department has taken a very tough stance all around.

Dave Ptasnik, Director Americans Adopting Orphans, responds to adoptive parents’ complaints of being tired of dealing with the INS (now called USCIS). Reprinted here with permission.

Well, we can certainly understand being tired of the INS. That

feeling seems to be epidemic throughout the field of adoption right

now. However, discomfort with the INS shouldn't get in the way of

the security of our kids.

Bottom line, a passport is issued by the State Department. The

Certificate of Citizenship is issued by the US Immigration and

Naturalization Service, part of the Department of Justice. They are

separate political entities with separate enforcement powers and

missions.

While current law states that your child is supposed to become a

citizen as soon as they enter the United States, it is entirely

possible that the INS might not consider your child to be a citizen

until the INS says your child is a citizen. While your child is

currently entitled to automatic proof of citizenship, that could

change. Once the Certificate of Citizenship is issued, your legal

position is greatly enhanced.

Let's talk about some of the other differences between a State

Department Passport and an INS Certificate of Citizenship. The

Passport is a mobile document. You carry it with you, send it around

for Visa's, give it to hotel clerks or bankers, and is much more

subject to being lost or stolen. There is an active market in forged

and stolen passports, and sometimes they are not taken at face value

by Federal agents.

Our family had an experience with this last month. When traveling

from Canada back into the US, the Border Guard stated that our

children's passports were not sufficient proof that they were

citizens, or that they were our children, and wanted to know if we

had our copies of our domestic adoption decrees and Certificates of

Citizenship. Even though a passport is all that should be required,

and we were only briefly delayed while she got an opinion from a

supervisor, it is clear that passports can be questioned. Even when

all of the last names of a family match, from passport to passport.

On the other hand, a Certificate of Citizenship is a document you

normally safeguard. The kind of thing that you keep in a Safe

Deposit Box, and don't take out unless it's needed. Suppose your

child commits a crime when they become a teenager, or an adult, and

are being held in INS detention. Again, I doubt if an INS office

will be as impressed by a Passport, or an old Chinese Passport marked

IR-3, as they would be by a Certificate of Citizenship. By the way,

the IR-3 Visa is issued by the State Department, not the INS.

As pointed out, passports expire. Certificates of Citizenship do

not. It is not too difficult to imagine a future where the

relationship between the US and China changes dramatically. The

State Department could simply choose to stop renewing passports from

Chinese born people who don't have INS proof of US Citizenship.

Legally, it is my lay understanding that it is much more difficult to

withdraw an issued, permanent, Certificate of Citizenship, than to

simply stop renewing a passport.

We have already seen cases where some countries have done

wholesale revocations of past adoptions, it is possible that we could

see this with China as well. Five years from now a new Chinese

regime could declare all adoptions that occurred in the past are not

valid. They could ask the US Government to refuse to recognize those

adoptions. Again, if you already have your adoption decree in your

home state, and your Certificate of Citizenship from the INS, you are

in a much stronger position to claim that you are your child's parent(s),

and that your child is already a US Citizen.

Plus, Federal standards aren't the only thing to worry about. We

have seen families have endless difficulties with their Chinese

documents in State and County Courts. Local judges questioning the

validity of adoptions, abandonments, and even citizenship. Courts

expect that people born outside of the US, who have US Passports,

need to be able to demonstrate how they are entitled to the

Passports. Showing a Chinese Passport with an IR-3 handwritten onto

one of the pages, and saying that this is what entitled your child to

receive a US Passport may not be enough for some judges, who may then

choose to refuse to grant a readoption or block an extradition.

People born outside of the US who have become citizens normally have

a Certificate of Citizenship to show for it. Just as a passport can

show a different name than the one on your birth certificate, you

need to show the document that made the name change legal to truly

demonstrate that you are who you say you are.

At the very least, a Certificate of Citizenship makes problems

like that easier to deal with. Sure, you are forking over more cash

to the INS, but it is for your sake, and the sake of your kids, not

to benefit the INS.

Of course, it is always a different story for married couples who

only have one spouse that traveled (IR-4 Visa holders). These

families must readopt their child and apply to the INS before their

child gains citizenship.

It really is a question of Insurance. Today, you feel fine, so

why have health insurance? But in the future, if things change, you

may find that your pre-existing conditions aren't covered. By

getting your insurance now, you protect the integrity of your family.

Nor are we alone in this opinion. Immigration attorneys agree

that this is a necessary step when you child comes to the US. In the

May/June 2002 issue of Adoptive Families Magazine, Peter Wiernicki, a

principle in the Washington DC law firm of Joseph, McDermott, &

Reimer, which practices in adoption law states: "Parents should

note, however, that even with `automatic' citizenship (1) it is

necessary to apply for a certificate of citizenship to document US

Citizenship and (2) US Citizenship does not create a `US adoption.'"

Clearly, obtaining a Certificate of Citizenship is the gold standard

for proving that our children are entitled to spend their lives in

the United States.

I would rather not wait for warning signs that I need to hurry up

and get a Certificate of Citizenship for our kids. By the time you

see and understand the warning signs, it may be too late. It's less

than $200 bucks, and I think a great investment for the future of our

kids.

Thus, it would be beneficial for all international adoptees to have a Certificate of Citizenship. Unfortunately, the recent laws have done nothing to help the adoptees who are over 18 years old gain citizenship that they were entitled to prior to age 18 but did not receive because their parents unknowingly never applied for it. In the 2003-2004 U.S. legislative session, the ICARE Act was introduced and would have rectified this situation among other adoption reforms and would have established an Office of Inter-country Adoption within the State Department. Unfortunately, this bill never made it out of committee.

Resources for Citizenship

Adoption Legislation Matrix

Applying for Citizenship Certificate

Child Citizenship Act Program Update

Citizenship Act of 2000

ICARE Act

USCIS Child Citizen Act Program

G884

Kara Post provided this section on G884.

Note: These instructions were written for China-adopt parents.

Substitute your child's birth country in place of China when

completing the form.

For an internationally adopted child, the G-884 form allows you to request the return of your original documents submitted to the U.S. government. The form isn’t available online; you have to order it by mail. It’s free. You will likely receive additional original “white booklets” from China (abandonment certificate, birth notarial certificate, adoption registration) and possibly other documents pertaining to your child’s visa application.

Requesting the Form

Follow these steps:

1. Access the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services web site:



2. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to How do I get original

documents back?

3. Click on Forms By Mail.

4. Click on Next at the bottom of the page.

5. Select the # of forms you want (at least 2 in case you make mistakes).

This form isn't available on the drop-down menu, so you'll have to

type it in the single blank at the bottom.

6. Type G-884 or

Request for the Return of Original Documents but not both.

7. Click on Next and follow the prompts to provide your mailing

information. The forms will arrive in about a week.

Completing the G884

Complete the following steps:

1. Write a business cover letter, including your name and address in the

upper right corner, and the address of your District USCIS office on

the left.

To locate your district office access

). 

Under the address, type RE: (child's full adoptive name) aka (child's

full Chinese name). Under the names, write her Alien Registration Number.

You can find the alien registration number in the following locations:

Permanent Resident card (green card)

Child’s country of origin passport.

Within the passport the Alien Registration number is located on Visa page.

• Certificate of Citizenship

Address the letter to “Dear Madam or Sir” and write a short statement

that you are enclosing from G-884. Sign the letter.

2. On the form, fill in the following:

|Field |What to Enter |

|Name of Requester |print your name as the parent |

|Specific information desired |I request the return of the |

| |original sealed documentation that we received |

| |from the U.S. |

| |Consulate in Guangzhou, China, when we adopted |

| |(daughter's adoptive |

| |name). The envelope was given to USCIS in (your|

| |port-of-entry). My |

| |request includes all documents, letters, |

| |papers, and materials, |

| |printed or otherwise. My request includes the |

| |visa medical exam form |

| |and/or letter signed by the US Consulate |

| |physician. |

|child info box |her adoptive name |

|Family Name/First Name/Middle Name| |

|Other names if used |her Chinese name |

|Place of birth |province, China |

|Field |What to Enter |

|Type of entry |if both parents traveled, IR-3; if one parent |

| |traveled, IR-4 |

|Naturalization & Citizenship |Write “N/A” in the spaces or citizenship |

| |certificate number. |

|Verification of Identity |check Legible Photocopies. |

3. Sign the bottom of the form.

You will have to sign and notarize the back of the form.

4. Make a copy for your records.

5. You will need to include 2 copies of your ID (driver's license,

passport), and a copy of your adoption decree (the one in the red

plastic folder with your family picture) and a copy of the decree

translation. You must also include a copy of the page saying the

person who translated the decree is certified to do so.

6. Send the form, cover letter on top, and supporting documents to your

District USCIS office (get the address from the USCIS website):



7. Include your return address, and in the lower left corner of the

envelope write in large letters: ORIGINAL SUBMISSION and under that

write FORM G-884.

8. Send the envelope first-class mail.

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

Kara Post provided this section on G884.

Note: These instructions were written for China-adopt parents.

Substitute your child's birth country in place of China when

completing the form.

You can use the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to obtain your child’s immigration documents that you didn’t recover when submitting the G-884.

Information Received

My package included a letter from USCIS and copies of all her

immigration documents:

• our I-600 form, with date stamps and officials' signatures and a

cover sheet that must have gone with it to the Consulate in Guangzhou

• our I-604 and DS-230 forms (visa documents) with date stamps and

officials' signatures

• her I-551, the form signed and dated by the immigration officer as

she became a US citizen upon arrival in the US (has her visa photo on

it)

• her visa (with the same cute photo)

• my G-884 request and supporting documents

• her Certificate of Citizenship application and supporting documents,

and photocopied C of C

• the 7-page visa medical exam form, complete with the doctor's

comments (written in Chinese and then translated), his signature

(characters and pinyin) and her exam stats

Obtaining the Form

Complete the following step:

1. Request form G-639, Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act Request

from the USCIS website:

The fee charged may vary depending on the amount of research involved

to fulfill your request, but you do not have to send a fee with your

initial request.

Completing the G-639

Complete the following steps:

1. Write a business cover letter, including your name and address in the

upper right corner, and the address of your District USCIS office on

the left.

Get the address from

). 

2. Under the address, write "RE: (daughter's full adoptive name) aka (daughter's

full Chinese name).

3. Under her names, write her Alien Registration

Number.

You can find the alien registration number in the following locations:

Permanent Resident card (green card)

Child’s Country of Origin passport.

Within the passport the Alien Registration number is located on Visa page.

• Certificate of Citizenship

4. Address the letter to “Dear Madam or Sir” and write a short statement

that you are enclosing from G-639. Sign the letter.

5. Fill out the form as follows:

|Field |What to Enter |

|FOIA |Check the box |

|Name of Requester |Print your name and sign your name |

|Print Name of Person Giving Consent |Print your daughter's full |

| |adoptive name |

|Signature of Person Giving Consent |Sign your daughter's full |

| |adoptive name, then print BY MOTHER or BY FATHER |

|Allow the Requester named in item 2 to see of my |Check box |

|records. | |

|Action requested |check Copy |

|Information needed to search for records | “Any remaining |

| |documents in her file” |

|Field |What to Enter |

|Specific information etc. desired |Write whatever you want to |

| |get back. I wrote “(daughter's name)'s visa medical |

| |exam form that was in the sealed visa packet we |

| |turned over to USCIS in (port-of-entry) upon our |

| |return from China on (date entering US).” |

| Purpose |“This document was not returned to us after we |

| |submitted the G-884.” |

|Data needed | |

|Family Name/Given Name/MI |write her adoptive name |

|Other names used and Name at time of entry into the |write her Chinese name |

|US | |

|I-94 Admissions # |N/A |

|Alien Registration #: |     from her green card |

|Petition or Claim Receipt #: |N/A |

|Name of other family members that may appear |write parents' |

| |name(s) |

|Country of Origin |China |

|Naturalization information |N/A |

|Verification of Subject's Identity |check Notarized Affidavit of |

| |Identity |

|Signature of Subject of Record |Print child's name then sign |

| |BY MOTHER |

6. The final section asks for notarization then says OR and there is a

declaration you can sign in lieu of a notarized signature. It also

says to include the Notary Seal or Stamp. Notarize this page

and sign the declaration on the right ("If executed within the

US...").

7. Make a copy for your records.

8. Include copies of your Chinese adoption decree and state re-

adoption documents to verify that parenthood.

9. Send the form, cover letter on top, and supporting documents to your

District USCIS office (get the address from the USCIS website):



Include your return address, and in the lower left corner of the

envelope write in large letters: FOIA REQUEST, ORIGINAL SUBMISSION and under that write FORM G-639.

10. Send the envelope first-class mail.

Addenda

The following provides a look at the legal protection issues in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom

Australia

Information provided by Vivienne Webb

In Australia, according to our Bilateral agreement with China, China adoptions here are complete. Therefore, re-adoption is NOT an issue, since the adoption is recognised here. This means of course that an Australian birth certificate is NOT triggered

BUT, for example, Korean adoptions (and other inter-country adoptions where there is no Bilateral Agreement) are different. The children come here under guardianship and after a period of time, and social worker visits, the adoption order goes through our Family Court. The children receive Australian birth certificates, etc. as if they had been adopted under domestic adoption regulations.

Before we go to adopt our child, we have to pay around AUS $1,200 for a visa for the child to enter the country. I think that, among a-parents, this one of the most hated of the fees associated with adoption. Once we arrive home, we simply fill in a form to apply for a citizenship certificate and then we can apply for a passport.

The visa application fee is applicable for all ICA, not only those done under bilateral agreements.

Some of post-adoption paperwork varies from state to state. In Western Australia, we are subject to around 6 months of “'supervision,” where we are visited by a departmental social worker once a month (all adoptions are organised through the responsible government department). With Chinese adoptions, the post-placement reports (6 months and 12 months) are also done by the same social worker.

Canada

Information provided by Susan Olding

Guardianship and Wills

As far as I know there is no legal requirement in Canada for people to put these in place, whether their children are adopted or biological, though of course we are strongly encouraged to do so. China requires evidence of this post-placement, and in our case our social worker also discussed it with us during the home study process. I imagine that different sending countries have different policies.

Citizenship

Is not yet automatic for children of Canadian citizens adopted abroad. Bill C-18, which has to date been through two readings in the House, but as of April 2004 has not been reintroduced in the Third Session, would "upon application" make children adopted abroad full citizens. More detailed information is available at The Citizenship of Canada Act.

In the meantime, however, obtaining citizenship in Canada for our children adopted abroad is quite straightforward for adoptive parents living in Canada. (The situation is much more complicated if the adoptive parents are living abroad, and this is one of the inequities that the proposed Bill would help to resolve.) For now, the child must be pre-approved as a permanent resident (landed immigrant) before arrival in Canada.

In Ontario, parents must currently pay a hefty fee to Immigration ($925); resentment over this added cost may contribute to some later parental foot-dragging about acquiring full citizenship (which involves yet another, smaller, fee).

Because Canada and most of its provinces are signatories to the Hague, but not all ending countries are, the process of bringing a child into the country varies slightly, depending on whether or not the sending country has signed the Convention, and depending further on whether or not the adoption is finalised in the child's country of origin or the adoptive parents' province of residence. However, once the child arrives in Canada, the parents may then (immediately) apply for the child's formal citizenship. In our case, the whole process took about a month; there is a separate office within Immigration that deals exclusively with international adoption applications.

More Paperwork...

As in the UK, children must be registered to receive Health Care benefits. So this means for parents yet another bit of paperwork. Parents who fail to look to this promptly are often caught in a tangle during their child's first few months the country. On application, a temporary Health Card is immediately issued and the child is eligible for all benefits.

Some web sources:





United Kingdom

Information provided by Sheena Macrae

Inter-country Adoption

There has been a plethora of adoption regulation recently which encompasses the UK inter-country placements as well as UK domestic placement. The UK has both signed and ratified the Hague Convention, so all adoption legislation, whether domestic or inter-country now needs to meet Hague requirements. And benefits and/or stringencies applied to one now obtain for the other…

For inter-country adoptions, the basic “requirements” of citizenship, passport and the nicety of a “British Birth Certificate” are obtained in different ways because of the complexity of differing types of inter-country adoption process now operating in the UK.

Because, therefore , of Hague, there are different types of inter-country adoptions, all of which trigger different requirements in obtaining paperwork once the child is home.

Convention Adoptions

If the ICA is made from a (Hague) Convention country then the effect of the adoption order triggers ALL national paper work as if the child were the subject of a domestic adoption order. Citizenship is automatic, and obtaining a passport a formality because of this (but is optional).

Placement on the Register of Adopted Children is automatic, and with this comes (after the cost of registering!) is a British Birth Certificate. This states the child’s first name and place of birth and the date of the adoption and new name after adoption. It’s on UK “paper”; many adoptive families prize it because the children need not display “foreign “ birth certificates where these are required, eg on joining school, acquiring a passport..

Convention Adoptions with Interim Orders

There are ICAs in Convention countries where the sending country grants only an interim adoption order, and these families must seek a full placement order here, going through the UK courts to obtain this. If obtained then citizenship is automatic. All follows the route of a Convention order outlined above.

Designated Country Adoptions

And then there are adoptions from “Designated” countries ( these tend to be ex-Empire/Commonwealth countries, but the PRC/China is one) where the foreign adoption is recognized by UK law. This gives the child the right to register as a Citizen and thus obtain a passport, but this is an option and can be ignored so long as the child remains in the UK. If registration of citizenship is not sought for these children, they cannot acquire a British passport. Until recently some parents chose to skip registration and seek (a burden on the public purse) re-adoption as permitted through the non-Convention non-designated route. After lobbying, it is now possible for children adopted under the Designated Country scheme to apply to be registered on the Adopted Children’s Register (and the legislation was retroactive), which at least gives them British Birth Certificates.

The burden is on the adoptive family to register these children as citizens; until recently UK immigration and nationality law was such that the “type” of nationality obtained via registration was less comprehensive than that triggered by re-adoption and Convention adoptions. Through lobbying, this anomaly has been removed. The face-of-it costs of Registration and re-adoption are about the same. Re-adoption however triggers a huge ££ burden on the public purse, which is partially why the UK Immigration Law was altered to the benefit of children adopted from China. The cost savings to the public purse in obviating re-adoption are huge.

Non Convention, non- Designated adoptions

There are NON Convention NON Designated countries where, if children are placed from them into the UK, re-adoption must take place with social worker and Court supervision. The child is made a ward of court on entry (parents must state their decision to re-adopt within 14 days of bringing the child in; failure to do this jeopardizes the adoption), and application to begin the process cannot begin till the child has been home for a period of time. This “Schedule 2” assessment requires is akin to a continuing Homestudy. Once the re-adoption is made on satisfactory completion of this secondary post –adoption assessment, citizenship is automatic. This is because the adoption legally recognized post-Schedule 2 was made in the UK, and all national domestic rights follow, including placement on the Adopted Children’s Register.

Passport Control

For those families where the adoption is made under the Designated Country ruling (and where Citizenship is not applied for) the children are committed to having to travel on their. I find parents who feel comfortable with this a little difficult to understand.

I personally think it is a madness to make an intercontinental or even trans-European trip where my children travel on passports different to that of the Government of the State in which they reside, and where, in an international incident, it cannot help them.

I have Chinese friends here in the UK who have obtained UK Citizenship as adults purely to avoid harassment as they travel through the meant-to-be-open European Union. I don’t want an international incident to happen where my kids and I are separated because one set of passport options are honoured in the dispute and others are not…. So I obtained British Citizenship through registration for my children with six weeks of their toes touching the tarmac of London Heathrow, and two weeks after that had their UK passports.

In personal communication with Beijing and the Chinese Embassy in London, I have it in writing that UNTIL our Chinese children acquire citizenship of their new land, they remain on the face of it Chinese citizens. This is the crux of why the PRC requires post-placement reports in perpetuity if the child is not made a Citizen of the adopted country. The PRC remains in international law responsible for these children…. Some families might find that dinky, might LIKE the notion of dual citizenship. I have no comment here.

I can see that under PRC law where PRC citizenship is automatically relinquished on acquisition of another nationality… that underpins their notion of ICA. The PRC is not affording Public International Law links to the children, rather more setting out to sever responsibility for care. We couldn’t adopt these children if their first government thought they could care adequately for them.

Lobbying

I was one of the ones who lobbied so that the law of immigration was changed to make re-adoption unnecessary and to make safe citizenship acquired through designated country adoption (no crime except treason now can remove it). I was also one of those who lobbied and got retro placement of children adopted from designated countries (China!”) onto the Adopted Children’s Register. This means our Chinese kids get (if they wish, and there are those families who DO wish) British “birth certificates.”

Post-placement

Other changes in adoption regulations have improved post-placement possibility in charging therapies on local social work agencies. It requires work and chutzpah, but people are beginning to be able to ask for and receive funding for the care their kids need, whether from Southampton or Shenzhen…. This is because it is the “home” placement team that is chargeable, and that means we ICA families can ask for fiscal cases to be made to make good the needs our children bring home.

“In return,” legislation is seeking to give our Homestudy Placement Experts more teeth in telling us which referrals “meet” the child we described in our Home studies.

Other benefits

Other types of benefit, eg, registration of the child with the National Health Service (NHS) and thus the Child Health Visitor Service, and application for Child Benefit (a monthly sum accorded to the carer of every child in the UK to help with needs, minimal but something) need the adoption order or its promise to establish.

Registration with the NHS means that the SW Placement Teams work in conjunct with the child care agencies. I was surprised to find that on beginning the paperchase for our second child that files existed on “our parenting” of our first through liaison of the Health Visitors, the placement Team and Child Protection agencies. Big Brother? No, perfectly right to do it, but I wish they had been more open about making the links

Local Placement Teams follow the requirements of the sending countries where ICA families must present dossiers. In my personal experience, Wills were bound into the Dossier. The issue of Guardians (for China) now in the UK requires that the SWs visit the Guardian and a report of competency assessed is prepared and noted within the Schedule of the Homestudy. This is notwithstanding the PRC requirements.

And with Viv Webb in the Australian Report above, many of us with China kids baulk that a “cost” in China is obtaining an entry Visa to the UK for our Chinese children, despite the fact that under the Designated Country Laws our children are recognized as if born to us in China. Ah well, makes our children in good company with the kids born to UK expats in China. Both sets of kids need entry visas!

Conclusions

Find more UK details at:

http:// .uk/cms/media/a21.pdf



(For UK Government advice on ICA)

My thanks are due to Stevan Whitehead, Public Relations Officer for OASIS (Overseas Adoption Support & Info Service, UK ICA support group for the above two links. Please find Stevan at .

_____________________________________________________________

EMK Press • • 16 Mt Bethel Road, #219 • Warren, NJ • 07059

732-469-7544 • 732-469-7861 fax • info@

-----------------------

[1] Michael T. Palermo, Crash Course in Wills and Trusts, ©1999-2004

[2] Marsha Goetting and Alice Mills Morrow, Estate Planning for Families with Minor Children, ©2002 MSU Extension Service

[3] Nolo Law for All, Choosing a Guardian for Your Children, ©2004

[4] If a child is issued an IR3 visa (“Immediate Relative -- Orphan Adopted Abroad by U.S. Citizen”), this indicates that the USCIS considers the adoption abroad to be final. You can determine what classification of visa your child was issued by looking at the stamp in your child’s foreign country passport to see whether the designation is “IR3” or “IR4”. The USCIS definition of “final” also has implications for other matters involving federal law such as the IRS adoption tax credit and the income tax exclusion of benefits received under an employer’s adoption assistance program (that require that the adoption of a non-citizen child be “final” before the credit and/or exclusion can be taken.) The IRS bases its determination of “final” on the INS classifications. See IRS Publication 968 and IRS form 8839 at the IRS website, . See also IRS Notice 2003-15 Proposed Revenue Procedure regarding Finality of Adoptions at:

[5] Adoption is a matter of state law and each state has its own set of laws regarding what effect it will give decrees issued from foreign countries, such as adoption decrees. For those who live in Pennsylvania, I have also prepared comments specific to re-adoption in Pennsylvania that are available upon request.

[6] As of March 1, 2003, most of the INS functions have been transferred to a new department, the “Department of Homeland Security” (DHS), and the “INS” no longer exists. Most of the immigrant service functions such as immigrant visa petitions (e.g., I-600 Orphan Petitions)), citizenship, etc., will be handled by the new U.S. Office of Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

[7] The Child Citizenship Act of 2000 (CCA) provides for the “automatic” acquisition, that is acquisition as a matter of law, of U.S. citizenship to many children of U.S. citizens that are born abroad (adopted and not adopted) provided that certain qualifications are met. One of the qualifications is that the adoption be “final.”

[8] The USCIS requirement is based on its interpretation of INA sec.101 (b)(1)(F), 8 U.S.C.A. sec. 1101(b)(1)(F), regarding a full and final adoption and other sections.

[9] June 13, 2001 Federal Register Notice re: “ INS Regulations and Comments regarding implementation of the CCA,” 66 FR 32138, Interim Rule but effective upon publication (June 13, 2001) at: . See also 8 C.F.R. sections 320, 322 and 341. (Note that in the January 2004 “CCA Program Update” the USCIS states that it is in the process of reviewing comments in response to the June 13, 2001 Notice, and is “in the process of drafting the final regulation.”)

[10] The N-643 form, the form previously used to request a Certificate of Citizenship for an adopted child, has been replaced with the revised N-600 form. You can download the revised Form N-600 and its instructions at: or order it by phone at 1800-870-3676. (Note that the correct fee for a Certificate on behalf of an adopted child currently is $200) See also the October 1, 2003 Federal Register Notice, CIS: Introduction of revised N-600 and N-600K, 68 FR 56643, effective October 31, 2003, at:



To further confuse this topic, the USCIS has recently announced that under its "CCA Program," Certificates of Citizenship will be issued to children who enter the U.S. on IR3 visas within 45 days of entry, free of charge.  Please note however, that Certificates will not be provided for children who enter on IR4 visas. In addition, Certificates for children already in the U.S., will not be provided under this program. 

10a The definition of “legally adopted children” in the Social Security regulations at 20 CFR sec. 404.356 references that it applies the “adoption law of the state or foreign country where the adoption took place, …” However, in the situation where a “legally adopted” child is adopted after the parent is receiving benefits, 20 CFR sec. 404.362, the adoption must be “issued by a court of competent jurisdiction within (my emphasis) the United States” before the child is entitled to benefits. See also the Social Security Handbook.

[11] Please make sure that if you change your child’s name in the re-adoption, that your child’s former name is clearly referenced within the state issued adoption decree along with the new “American” name, so that it is clear that the decree is referring to the same child. Otherwise there have been reports that USCIS officials have questioned this and required a separate court order stating that both names are referring to the same child.

[12] The birth certificate that is issued for your child from your state of residence will be in the format of the state’s birth certificate and will list you as the child’s parents or parent. However, it will still indicate the actual country of your child's birth. For purposes of these comments, only if your child was born in the U.S. would a birth certificate be proof of U.S. citizenship.

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